A Pinch of Honesty
by yesterthoughts
Summary: In which Jinx and West are physics teachers, stuck with each other, and only the smallest pinch of honesty is shown. A look into a snippet of their daily teaching lives. Teacher AU; Flinx two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

To be quite honest, Jinx wasn't sure why in the world she kept returning back to this job- she liked physics, sure, but the high school kids sure could be infuriating in their bored "I-just-need-an-A" attitude. Even though every end of the school year she practically vowed to never return to this torture chamber called her classroom, she always ended up back in it, facing a whole new batch of students. Why she even bothered to care about those random (yet infuriating all the same) students, nobody would be able to figure out _._

 _Well, can't help it that I'm already here,_ she sighed to herself. It was a new year once more, and she'd done it again: become a physics teacher, sure to suffer for the rest of the year. _Perhaps those kids have a charm I don't see but feel somehow_ , she mused, surveying her neatly cleaned classroom. She imagined said kids making a mess out of this beautifully cleaned classroom, and winced. _Or_ , she continued on dryly, _maybe I'm just crazy_. That seemed way more probable.

"Miss J?" She snapped out of her thoughts and whirled around.

"Oh, Mr. Grayson!" Oh shoots, the uptight principal. She forced a smile onto her lips. "Good morning, sir!"

He gave her a look, because both of them knew that grimace she had on her face wasn't fooling anyone. "I've known you for a few years already, Miss J. No need to exert yourself so much." Ah, typical dry remark from Sir Robin- he always had to stick to formalities, though he never called her Miss J outside of school.

Moving on to business, he said, "I just wanted to check if everything was alright."

"All good, all good, sir." He gave her another look at her "sir"s but hey, two can play the game. "Nothing to worry about, sir. I'm just about ready, at this wonderful time of dawn at 6 AM, to accept my new students with open arms, sir." This time, he chuckled dryly, the sarcasm of her sentence not lost on anyone.

"I'll take your word for it." He paused just a bit, as if remembering something, and then asked (in a not-so-natural way, though it was obvious he was trying to be conspicuous), "Oh, and do you know whether Miss Anders is here yet?"

Ah. So that was the real reason why he'd randomly checked up on her. "Wouldn't you like to know, sir," she smirked. Ignoring his red-faced glare, she continued. "No, I haven't seen her, if that's what you mean. In fact, I'm not even sure if she's awake. After all," with a pointed sigh towards the principal, "it _is_ such an ungodly hour to be at school."

Robin sighed and said offhandedly, "Regulations, I'm sure you remember from the teacher seminar"- that boring seminar she'd dozed all the way through, hidden behind some newer teachers? Oh, she remembered it all right- "so that we can accommodate the newer students and the problems of the old." _Yeah, yeah_ , she thought. Too bad not everyone was like Robin- Mr. Grayson, she had to call him- who probably woke the rooster up to crow every day so that everyone else could be on schedule.

"But if you haven't seen her," he went on with a swallow, "I'll be taking my leave now. I hope everything works out today."

"Unlikely, knowing how it's been for my whole teaching career, but I suppose hoping is the least I could do," she sighed in return. She bit back a snide remark about finding Kori, only his most obvious crush Jinx had ever seen (second only to Kori's own, she supposed). As tempting as it was, it really couldn't be wise to start off a new year on his wrong side. Who knows what he might do in the name of principal?

Jinx let Robin walk away, and sat down at her desk. She observed her classroom once more, enjoying the quiet that she knew wouldn't last long, especially once the students started to occupy the place regularly. She still had a good hour before the earliest stragglers usually came in, so she locked up her classroom to take a small stroll.

She popped into the class next door- Raven Roth's literature class- to see if "Miss Roth" wanted to join in, but the English teacher was fast asleep on her desk. _I don't blame her,_ she thought, smiling slightly. Jinx turned away, ready to go on silently as to not disturb her, when she caught sight of the cardigan that was covering Raven. It wasn't a particularly strange one, for sure, except for one thing: it wasn't black, blue, purple, or even white. It was green, and Raven wouldn't be caught dead wearing green in public, especially not where she had chances of coming across a certain vegetarian biology teacher- _Oh._ A slow smile crept up her face, and she left without another thought.

She passed the auto-mechanics shop, where her good friend Victor Stone was in charge of, and she called out a greeting to which she received a reply. Kori Anders's room was still closed, so she guessed that the foreign languages teacher hadn't reached school yet. Frankly, Jinx didn't blame her either.

She nodded a quick 'hello' to a multitude of other teachers that she saw on her stroll, then finally reached her favorite spot on the campus: a shady area under a tree towards the back of the school. Not even students ventured out here often, so most of the time this place was empty and serene. Well, that had been the case four years ago, since thenceforth she wasn't quite alone because of a certain red-headed teacher that always got on her case and-

She blinked. She'd reached her favorite place, but there was nobody there. "Strange," she said aloud. Well, if he wasn't here, all the better for her. A smile graced her lips, and she moved to take a seat when a flash of red and green stopped her.

A rose.

The smile that had been on her lips became a bit bigger before her whole face scrunched up into a scowl. "Typical." She picked it up and, despite her intentions of holding on to her distaste, smiled softly. She sat down, twirling the flower in her hands. West was the only other physics teacher in the big school, simultaneously the track-and-field coach that could outrun pretty much everyone. (There were some rumors that he'd almost competed nationally in, say, the Olympics, but he'd been cheated out of it somehow, but that's another story altogether.) Jinx didn't really like it, but since they _were_ teaching the same subject to usually the same grade, the two teachers and their classes were often pitted against each other.

The kids in her class liked to defend their spunky teacher, while the kids in the other class were all for their laid-back and easygoing teacher. Not only that, but West had been, for the lack of a better word, barging in on her privacy for the past four years that he'd been here. He gave her these flowers, appeared out of nowhere, gave her random pieces of advice that she didn't even ask for, persisted throughout her barbed insults, stayed even during her worst tempers, and-

"Enjoying the view?"

Jinx rolled her eyes. "I should've known you wouldn't have left it at the rose."

Wally West popped into view. "Can't leave you disappointed, can I?" His cheeky smile was met with a bored look.

"Try be more original, West. You've given me a single red rose for who-knows-how-long."

He now sat beside her, stretching his legs out onto the grass, and he chuckled. "I'm hurt, Jinx. I thought you _liked_ it when I gave you red roses."

"Well, think again."

The two physics teachers stayed like that for a little bit longer, letting the silence engulf them into a peaceful time. It was a while before the quiet was broken.

"Ready for the new year?"

"Hardly, if not not at all."

He laughed, and looked at her. "Why do you continue to be a teacher when you always detest the school and the students?"

"Honestly? Even I don't know." Jinx shrugged, feeling civil for once. "Maybe the kids are growing on me. Maybe Robin's too scary to not sign the contract thing. Maybe I've grown attached. Or, the likeliest of them all, maybe I'm just too lazy to find a new job."

It was a nice conversation, Jinx decided. They weren't fighting, he wasn't teasing her, and everything seemed to be very peaceful and, well, nice.

"Or maybe you just love me too much to leave me?" West's cheeky grin was back.

After Jinx elbowed him in the side and gave him a glare for a good measure, she decided also that she'd spoken too soon.

She checked the watch on her wrist and abruptly stood up. "We'd better get back soon before Robin calls us out after class for slacking or something like that."

He was up and next to her before she'd even finished that sentence, leaning towards her just a bit. "You said 'we.'"

Jinx stared at him, backing away a bit to get him out of her private space. "And the big deal is?"

Obviously happy now, West shrugged carelessly and put his hands behind his head. "I just like the sound of it, I guess."

She huffed in incredulity and started to walk away from the now-whistling teacher. "Cut it, West. I just don't want us to get into trouble, okay?"

"'Us' as in you _and_ me, huh?"

Jinx didn't need to look back to know that her fellow physics teacher had a wide smile on his face. "Will you get over that?"

"It's a good day when you realize someone cares for you as much as you do," he commented. Ignoring Jinx's sidelong glare, he continued, "I mean, would you want someone that you like to get into trouble with someone as scary as _Robin_? No!" He laughed to himself, and Jinx groaned. _Leave it to him to make things all complicated with a few pronouns_.

"I'm not even going to say anything. This is way too under my intelligence level."

"Your insults were always your best guards, Jinx."

She stopped and turned to stare at him. "What in the world are you talking about?"

West chuckled. "I'll restate that." He started to flutter his eyelashes and said, in a high-pitched falsetto, "It's simply a _dor_ able when you try to hide your em _bar_ rassment, _dear_ Jinx."

 _Oh man, if I'd known that I'd have to deal with THIS before it's even seven in the morning, I wouldn't have followed Robin's "protocols" and "regulations" and just stayed home._ With that thought, she made a face at West and walked off.

He jogged up to her fast pace. "What, you're not going to deny it?"

Jinx blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Deny what? That you're a fool? Oh no, I'd never deny that as long as I live."

"Aww, are you saying in a backhanded way that you'll never be without me for the rest of your life?"

"I can't even fathom where you're getting all these ideas, twisting my words to match your thoughts."

"What can I say? It's my pride and talent."

They kept up the fire until they reached the empty hallways, where Jinx finally turned to him, frustrated with his word games. "Okay, once and for all, just tell me straight up. Why do you keep on bothering me?" she demanded.

West was definitely taken by surprise by this sudden fiery seriousness, but he quickly recovered his easy grin. "First of all, we're both physics teachers-"

"-unfortunately enough-"

"-shh, let me finish answering your question. Second, your pink hair." Seeing Jinx's frown, he laughed outright. "It's not always you see pink hair on a teacher, much less a science teacher."

Jinx rolled her eyes- she should've figured he'd have such a weird reason. "How deep," she drawled sarcastically. She attempted to move on, but West moved in her way, blocking her from continuing on.

To her look of irritation that flashed through her face, he laughed and said, "I have one more reason."

"It better be good."

"How can it be any less when it's coming from the infamous Wally West?" he winked, and Jinx resisted the urge to gag. After all, gagging wasn't very scholarly, and she was a mature person. "The third reason is that everyone knows you came to this high school because of me."

She stayed silent for another while, battling against herself to 1. not sputter and 2. restrain from strangling the smug teacher. Jinx left it at raising an eyebrow, saying, "Must I remind you that I was here, teaching at this school, _before_ you came here?"

He put up a thinking pose. "A very logical back-up, ma'am, but I must say I have the ultimate evidence."

"Which is?"

He paused dramatically. "You told Kori so."

Jinx frowned. Had she ever done such a thing? Why would she tell such a blatant lie to her good friend? "Um, sorry to burst your bubble, but either Kori made that up or you're lying, because I never said anything about that to her or to anyone else. Namely because it isn't true."

"Your sarcasm never fails to amuse."

"How poetic. Maybe you should quit being a physics teacher and become an English one, and you can bother Raven instead."

West pulled a horrified face. "Are you kidding? Gar would kill me. Besides, she doesn't even have pink hair!"

"Figures that would matter to you." Jinx rolled her eyes and blew a tuft of the pink hair in question out of her eyes. "Anyways, where in the world did you hear that I said something of the sort to Kori?"

West shrugged. "I mean, Kori told me that you said 'if it wasn't for West I wouldn't even be here,' and that pretty much means you're here because of me, isn't it?"

 _Ah, now I remember_. "Way to take things out of context, West. I said that when Kori, Garfield, Raven, you, and me all got in trouble with Robin last year. Remember?"

"Oh." West scratched his head. "Yeah, that was kind of a put-down. But still, I bet I _am_ the reason why you picked this school!" He beamed at her smugly.

Jinx scoffed. "Puh-lease. I only came here because it's closest to my house. I didn't even know you existed when I started teaching here."

He laughed. "Fine, fine, you win. Alright, so my third reason isn't a good reason. I admit my defeat." He stepped aside. "Go on, I won't keep you here any longer."

Jinx couldn't help but laugh along at his exaggerated movements, with all that bowing and hand flairs and that goofy grin he had. As the two of them fell into step, Jinx added her own little exaggeration as well, because why not? "Thank you, I've been awaiting this moment. I'd like to thank my good friend Raven for teaching me such high levels of sarcasm, the principal Robin for setting such a good example, and last of all Wally West for not being smart enough to win in the first place."

"Hey!" he protested, but they were both laughing.

In a rare good mood, the two physics teachers walked the hallway, filling the empty space with jokes and snickers, until Jinx reached her class. She turned to him with a comical look and said, "Well, fellow teacher, I wish you luck on the horrendous first day of school."

"It's not that bad," he replied. "The kids are so awkward, it's actually pretty funny."

Jinx had to agree to that. "Good luck anyways," she said, laughing, and she went into her room.

What West didn't know, Jinx thought to herself with a small smile, surveying her class once more, was that he was actually more right than wrong.

She _had_ actually chosen this school because it was nearest, but she stayed for more reasons than that. Though she would never admit this out loud to anyone, much less West himself, he was a good part of why she came back every year. Jinx hadn't been able to become close to the other teachers except Stone, whom she'd known since college but still didn't really talk to (which was why she had tended to stay in the secluded area by herself instead of the teacher's lounge), until West came by and befriended her despite her sharp words.

He had opened the doors to becoming such great friends with the rest of the faculty, and she couldn't thank him enough for what he'd done without a thought. Not that he'd ever need to know _that_.


	2. Chapter 2

Jinx caught a glimpse of bright red hair and called out a greeting to Kori, who'd finally made it here after (probably) oversleeping. A flash of blonde hair reminded her of the situation with Raven and the green cardigan, and she smiled evilly. _I am so going to "talk" to Gar about that for sure during lunch hour today_.

In twenty too-short minutes, the bell rang (obnoxiously, in Jinx's perspective), and a minute later, the hallways filled with sound. Students shoved their way to classes as the freshman peered helplessly at the room numbers. Poor kids; Robin wasn't merciful enough to excuse the tardy ones on the first day because he apparently expected everyone to just know from the very beginning, or at least scout out the classes beforehand or something.

 _It might suck being a teacher sometimes, but it doesn't suck as much as being a student with Robin as a principal_ , Jinx thought to herself. She busied herself with the lesson plan that she had brought with her as student after student stumbled into her room and hesitantly took a seat.

Jinx didn't look up to see what kind of students were to be in her very first period until the second bell rang. Her head shot up, and she said, "If you aren't supposed to be in Physics for Grade 9 for first period, get out before the principal finds you in the wrong class."

Nobody moved, which was a good sign, but she waited five more seconds just to be sure. "Well, that was your last chance. Now for attendance."

After attendance came assembly, and after assembly came the syllabus, because what else? First days are supposed to be nice and easy, just like that. Everyone gets their syllabuses, and do some lame ice-breaker game, and the more serious teachers would spring a pre-test on them. Jinx said as much to the class.

"But since I'm neither serious nor wanting to be cool, and since this is the first day of school, I'm going to tell you all about this school. Stuff nobody else will tell you about."

The class was already well acquainted with her dry and sassy attitude, so a student somewhere in the back (Justin? Jacob? Something with a J...) piped up, "Gossip?"

Needless to say, she sent him a look that got the class snickering. "Well, Joseph-"

"Uh, Josh?"

"-Josh, not gossip per se. Maybe... rumors. Secrets that you don't know as a freshman. I'm going to make my class of physics the most well-informed group of freshman today."

"So gossip it is!"

Ah, Jinx could already see that this kid was going to be a loud one. "I can already see that you're going to be the loud one here." The class tittered. "But anyways, if there are any questions during what I'm saying on and on and on, feel free to ask. Got it?" The students nodded excitedly, some of them even taking out a piece of paper to take notes on. Sure, take notes only when it won't be on any test.

"So rumor has it that in the left wing of W building there is a ghost haunting locker 541..."

Sometimes the students would throw out a question, which was when she'd answer it in full detail. But honestly, even if she didn't tell all of these to the class, the freshman usually knew all this by the end of third quarter, so she was just letting them in early. No harm done.

"Miss Jinx, is it true you're going out with the other physics teacher?"

Okay, so maybe some harm is done.

"I feel an urge to facepalm. What gave you _that_ idea"

"I accidentally went into his class and when I told him I was looking for your class, he said you were his girlfriend but that I shouldn't tell you."

Jinx made a face. "Typical West. No, he is not of any relationship to me except for the fact that we're both physics teachers. I tolerate him to the extent of friendship, maybe, but more would be poisonous to me." The class laughed. "He's not that bad, but he's not that great either. My previous classes always had some kind of weird sense of rivalry with the kids in his class, but it all depends on you. Who knows what in the world he's telling them about this class at the moment?"

"We'll fight him for you, miss!"

"Yeah! We can take on the whole class!"

"Our class is the best!"

The class chorused their approvals of the rivalry she'd told them about, and Jinx shushed them with a glare. "Okay, okay, I get it. Now moving on."

"Do you have any dirt on Principal Robin."

"Of course I do, but I value my own life too much to say anything..."

And thus ended the very first period of the very first day of the year. It was now time for break, and she shooed the kids out so that she could enjoy some peace and quiet after talking almost non-stop for 30 minutes. She erased the board in front of her and slumped down in her chair, swiveling around when she heard the door open.

Without looking, she said, "Kids, I said go to _recess_ and _look_ for your next class. Believe me, it's good for you."

"I don't have to look for my class, but thanks," replied an amused voice. And ugh, she knew this voice all too well.

"What do you want _now_ , West?"

"I heard that your class wants to beat me up."

"Can't blame them."

He chuckled. "Ouch. But hey, how was first period?"

Jinx sighed, supporting her head with her hand and leaning on the desk. "Awkward at first then somewhat more relaxed by the end. Same old, same old. There's this loud kid called Josh though, and he's somewhat of a class clown. I'm going to have to deal with him first thing in the morning, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but hey, at least he'll keep the class fun to everyone else. Maybe. Hopefully he won't be attention-seeking until he's obnoxious, just until he's funny..."

Without thinking much about it, Jinx was pouring out her thoughts and feelings to West, rambling on and on as he listened with an easy grin.

Suddenly the door reopened and the kid who'd asked about Jinx and West barged in. He stood there, blinking, and then he blurted out, "You said you weren't going out with him!"

Jinx shot up and scooted away from West. "Yeah, I'm most definitely not." She sent a glare to West, who was outright laughing. "Thanks for telling lies to this kid right here, by the way."

"It'll soon be true anyways."

The kid gasped delightfully, and Jinx's glare intensified. "West!"

"What?" he shrugged. "I'm serious."

She groaned. "I do _not_ want to deal with this right now. Out! Both of you!"

Obediently, the two of them scampered out, and Jinx moaned into her hands. This could _not_ be happening. By the time after school tomorrow, she was pretty sure everyone in the freshman class at least would be informed about this. Ugh.

True to her words, afterschool Raven Roth walked in with her usual poker face on, and said, "I heard you're dating West."

Jinx's expression made even Raven smile. "You look like you swallowed a sour lemon."

"That would've been better, actually."

Before she finished that sentence, though, the foreign languages teacher Kori Anders rushed in, flitting around in delight. "Oh, friend Jinx, is it true that you are doing the going out with friend Wally?"

Jinx scowled. She slammed her fist on the desk to emphasize her frustration. "No." Slam. "We." Slam. "Are." Slam. "NOT!"

Kori deflated, and Jinx felt kind of bad for being so angry at her. "That is most unfortunate, friend Jinx. I had hoped and hoped!"

Suddenly Robin waltzed right in, saying, "You have to alert me to all changes in relationships among teachers, Jinx. I'm the principal." Then he noticed Kori was there too and awkwardly stopped, suddenly nervous.

As Raven held back a snicker, Jinx glared. Her poor eyes, must've glared so much (too much) for the first day. "Yeah, you're the principal, shouldn't you be doing principal stuff right now and not scolding me for a _nonexistent_ relationship I have with _West_ , of all people?"

He blinked at her. "It's not true? Could've sworn I heard it from a reliable source..."

"...which would be me," said Victor Stone as he also came in. He grinned at her obvious displeasure.

"Don't all of you have, I don't know, _more important stuff to do?_ "

They looked at each other and shrugged. "Honestly? Not really," said Robin.

"But- but you're the _principal_ , for goodness' sake!"

"Yeah, so? I finished everything I had to do for the entire week. I'm kind of bored, actually."

"Figures." Jinx sighed, eyeing the suddenly crowded front part of her classroom. "Well, I kind of do, so-"

A blonde-headed man with a wide grin on his face popped his head in. "Yo Jinx! Heard you finally got together with-"

"NO!" she roared. Unfortunately, nobody found her intimidating. Why had she become friends with these guys again?

"Aww, that's a shame," said Garfield Logan, edging into the room anyways. He joined the smiling bunch. "I was really excited when I overheard that from one of my students. Oh, hey Rae."

"The name is _Raven_."

"As I was _trying_ to say, I have to do-"

"Wow, what is everyone doing here? Is there a teacher's meeting?" Ah, the culprit. Jinx wanted to strangle that red head until his face turned just as red too.

"This is all your fault, West."

"What did I do?"

"Oh I don't know, just _started a rumor about us two dating_?" she hissed.

"...oops?"

"You are so infuriating! You better tell your students tomorrow that the rumors are _false_ and that it is all a misunderstanding!"

"No can do, Jinxy."

She sputtered. " _Jinxy_?"

All the teachers (and the principal) around her gasped as well, repeating, "Jinxy?"

"Yes, Jinxy. I thought that if we're dating, then we need some kind of nickname for each other."

"For the last time, we are _not dating_! What part of 'not dating' do you not understand?"

"Maybe the 'not' part?"

"Is this lovers' spat going to end anytime soon?" deadpanned Raven, crossing her arms.

And to think she'd trusted at least Raven to take her side! Amongst the snickers, Jinx threw her hands up. "This is impossible. I'm going home."

"Oh! Oh! I will go with you, friend Jinx!"

As she packed up her belongings, she said, "It's fine, Kori. You should get a ride from Robin, I'm sure he'll be happy to comply."

Robin probably turned red and stuttered out something to Kori's questioning eyes, but Jinx didn't have it in her to enjoy the show. "Well, folks, I'm out." She slung her bag unto her shoulders and stalked right out of the mess.

Safely at home, she groaned to herself. There was no way she would be escaping tomorrow unscathed from all the teachers' jokes and all the freshmen's eyes. She pondered calling in sick, or maybe just disappearing from the face of the earth. Yeah, that sounded pretty reasonable. To do that she'd need a big hat, glasses, maybe some hair dye- the pink hair is a giveaway- and some clothes she'd usually never be seen in public with...

Ugh, who was she kidding. This wasn't going anywhere. (Where would she get all of those in such short notice anyways?) Jinx ran a frustrated hand through her hair, undoing all the tangles absentmindedly.

If she really thought about it, though, better to be rumored to be dating West than those gross folks back at her old high school, like the midget computer tech guy or the uber-annoying teacher who seemed to be everywhere all at the same time... In fact, going out with West might be a lot more fun than she would've thought. _Compared to those guys, that is_ , she corrected herself. _Nothing more, nothing less._

Oh well. In the end, they may be infuriating weirdos, but they were _her_ infuriating weirdos, and grudgingly, Jinx acknowledged that even West, the ultimate infuriating weirdo, was a friend she wouldn't leave behind. And even though this did not change the fact that she really didn't want to face the school tomorrow (just thinking about it made her want to face palm the whole night long), maybe, just maybe, it'll be good in the long run.

.

[EXTRA]

"Principal Friend Robin?"

"Y-yes, Star?"

"What did Friend Jinxy mean when she said you wanted to give me the means of transportation?"

"I-it just meant, uh, that she knew we were friends and I want to give my friends rides, maybe."

"Oh."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Don't be so disappointed, Star. Robin's not as honest as he should be."

"Friend Raven! Are you saying that Friend Robin is a liar?"

"You can't deny the truth, Star, you can't."

"Hey, Rae-"

" _Raven_."

"-ven! If having nicknames is a sign of dating-"

"Don't even go there."

[EXTRA FIN]

* * *

Awkward extra, but whatever. Honestly this teacher thing will probably be a recurring thing as well- not only Flinx, but all the other couples too. Soooo I don't know when and I don't know how, but there is a 71.3% possibility that I will be coming back into this alternate universe. With that being said, hope you enjoyed! ^^


End file.
